Never Seen Again

Into The Woods

Terry's POV

"...and the girls were never seen again..." Silence washes over the circle as April finished her story while gobbling down another s'more. The boys burst out laughing as they throw roasted marshmallows at each other, breaking the silence. 

"Stop laughing!" April yells at the boys, clearly annoyed. "Its a true story!"

One of the boys rolls his eyes. "As if anyone would believe a silly campfire story," he says, chucking a marshmallow at the boy across from him, laughing.

"Fine. It won't be my fault when you get kidnapped by the beast, " she murmurs darkly through clenched teeth. She whips her head around, slapping Greg in the face with her long, auburn hair. You can hear squishing sounds in the thick mud as she storms away from the campfire.

There's a moment of silence as everyone lets the shock of her dramatic departure sink in. Then the boys suddenly burst out laughing as they see Greg's traumatized face from his encounter with April's hair. 

A loud slamming sound comes from the cabins as April nearly breaks the cabin door, followed by a high pitched scream of frustration.

"I'll go check to see if she's okay," Autumn whispers to Lynn and I.

"Let's all go."

We slowly creep away from the campfire, their boots squishing in the mud. We start shivering as the warmth from the campfire leaves our bodies. We hear a second scream, this one much louder, as we change our pace to a run. The cabin door is cracked open when we reach it, and a dark shadow sprints into the woods. 

"Wait up!" Lynn yells, changing into a sprint.

They all sprint in silence for what feels like a eternity. The last slivers of sunlight disappear. I suddenly yell out, "Watch out for the root!" as I see a large lump in the ground ahead. I leap over a large root, my army green 'Doc Martens' brushing against it.

"What did you say?!" Autumn yells back. I yell back in response, but she doesn't seem to hear me. Autumn speeds after me, Lynn following closely behind. Suddenly, their boots catch on something and they face plant in the mud. They both yell out in shock. 

 I turn back, running towards the sound, stopping beside them. 

"Hey look, you guys got the mud masks that you were talking about getting the other day!"

Autumn groans, swiping the mud off her face with her hand. "This is not the time for this. Where is April?"

"I can't find her," I say, looking over my shoulder.

"Let's just head back before we get lost. She's not a little kid. She knows this camp better than any of us," Lynn suggests.

Autumn and I both agree with a nod of our heads. 

"Do any of you remember which way we came from?" I ask. They both respond with shakes of their heads. 

Suddenly, the woods seemed to get 10x darker, like a beast towering over us. 

"I can't even see anything," Lynn tells her.

"I usually can't even see anything," I joke, trying to lighten the mood.

I hear Autumn turn around,  making a squealing sound that sounded like a stifled scream. My heart rate goes up, dreading what is behind us.

As Lynn and I slowly turn around, I see a pair of glowing red eyes, like rubies. As I scan the darkness around it, I find that its actually thick, black fur. 

In front of us is a ten-foot tall growling beast.